All Day Long....

 Once again I had the pleasure of sleeping pretty well last night.

Up in time to do chores.

 Things were pretty normal here, but in Webster there was a tragic event taking place.

I'm sure it's in the news all over the country by now.

 A man who had been in jail for 18 years got out on parole (killed his grandmother with a hammer)

and after leading a clean life for several years...lost it today and set fire to the house his mother (who passed recently) and sister lived in.  When the firemen arrived he shot four, (two  died) and I believe he then took his own life.  Have not had time to watch the latest news.

 Because the houses were very close to each other, several burned to the ground.  What is going on in this world?  And what impact does the news have on events like this?  So tragic.

In the meantime, I was in the barn cleaning the stalls...and while my day was relatively normal, all those families lost everything.

 Gary is still helping me.

 Due to our lack of normal health (as of late) our Christmas Eve Smorgie was cancelled until next Sunday and we were joined by Jenny, Coop, Finn and Karen.

 Flat Stanley (soon to be Fat Stanley) is visiting from Kentucky and he also enjoyed spending the evening with us.

 The crew arrived at 5:30 and I did chores very quickly.

 How about that sky?

 Finn worked on a word game...

 and Coop got busy helping his Mom prepare Chicken Marsala.

 Gary and Karen sat by the fire and chatted.

 Finn and Coop love having Karen around.

 She put together a great citrus salad.

 All done and ready to eat.  Not our normal Christmas Eve fare (we'll have that in a week) and it was so delish.

 It was served with mashed potatoes, salad, green beans, cranberry orange relish and crusty rolls.

 The boys opened their presents from Aunt Steph, Uncle Joe, Ariana and Daniela.

 This is what they got!

The girls stole their hats to have their pictures taken.

 Cooper went straight to work on a Lego dump truck we gave him...

 Finn was very happy with his new football, and they both liked getting more cash from Nanna and Grampa.

We ended up with a little drumming.....
Finn is a natural.
Pardon the candlelight...just listen.

Cooper could not get enough of my new drum from Turkey.

It was a family thing.

By 9pm they were gone and I am trying to finish this post so I can get some very needed rest...did not get my quota today.
Merry Christmas to all of you, and let's hope that this topsey-turvey world can find some peace.  We have surpassed our tragedy quota by a long shot.
Night all.